Abyss
by notnecessarilyinbetween
Summary: Tanuma and Taki are witness to some things that they never knew about Natsume.


Natsume had gone running off like usual, shouting about some kind of youkai and telling that cat, Ponta, to keep up. It was normal, almost seemed strangely interesting as Tanuma ran through the forest to try to find out what in the world he was doing, also keeping an eye out for Taki who was following behind. Natsume always seemed to be jumping about, watching things that no one else could see. Even if he could sense them sometimes, Tanuma was still a bit shocked at just how good Natsume was at it. Oh, he heard shouting, and he rushed forward to find Natsume was being held by the back of his collar by Ponta, hanging over a 6 foot drop over the river.

"Look where you are going, idiot."

"Sensei! If you had helped then he wouldn't have nearly gotten it."

Tanuma smiled and walked over, and when Taki caught up they both pulled him back up on the ledge.

"Ponta, I thought you were supposed to be his bodyguard?"

"Hmph" the cat sniffed and meandered away, Natsume following his path with his eyes.

"Ah, sorry, thank you for helping me there," Natsume flashed a small smile, and Tanuma and Taki knew he had once again forgotten about them. Tanuma understood that he didn't do it on purpose, more so that it was a habit of Natsume's to hide whatever he could. And truthfully they couldn't blame him.

"What kind of youkai was it?" Taki seemed to be bouncing in place, trying to understand what Natsume had seen.

"Umm... well... it was only medium level... it uh..." Natsume struggled to find his words. It was hard, describing something that he had learned from a small age he shouldn't see, " It had green hair, and-"

But his talk was cut short as he felt something grab his ankle. He caught a glimpse of a claw covered in seaweed before he tumbled down into the river. "Not again!" Natsume struggled to breathe, he clawed his way to the surface shouting, "SENSEI!" once before he was pulled back down. He clawed about to try to find what was holding on to him, but it was so dark, so cold, he couldn't tell which way was up from down. The grip grew stronger and bubbles started to escape from his mouth. He felted his chest pushing out, demanding for air, but kept his mouth firmly shut. His vision started to fade in and out, and he saw a large face looming in front of him. It stared right into his eyes, and Natsume could feel his lungs bursting. "Just one breathe, " he thought as he tried to get his limbs to work. His eyes drifted shut as he felt something warm wrap around his body, and then all was lost.

Tanuma could only stand and watch as Natsume's face took on a look of pure terror, and he seemed to slide right off the edge of the cliff.

"NATSUME!" both he and Taki screamed at the same time. Tanuma dropped his bag and jumped down into the water, praying that he could get him. Right as he was about to land, Natsume popped up near the far shore, yelled for the cat, and then disappeared back under the surface. Tanuma forced himself against the current and dove down, squinting in the brown, murky, water. He brought himself up, took a gasp of air, then tried again. Still no. He threw himself as deep as he could go, and found himself face to face with one of the most frightening things he had seen.

Tanuma knew that Natsume had been attacked, he had seen part of one, he had heard that Natsume had gotten targeted by many youkai, but this was something he had never actually seen. The figure was holding Natsume's neck and squeezing, Natsume was trying to push the claws away, but could only feebly move about as he was running out of air. His face was one of terror and resignation, he seemed to try to pull away towards the surface, but suddenly stopped and all tension left his body. "NO!" Tanuma swam forwards and collided with Natsume's body. He could see only the outline of the murky youkai, but it seemed shocked to see him, and released its grip on Natsume. Tanuma struggled towards the surface, towing Natsume along. In his rush of adrenalin he was able to pull Natsume onto the shore when he felt something fighting him for possession of his friend. He looked back and could barely make out some kind of seaweed pattern before there was a roar and a blinding light. Tanuma was thrown back, Natsume still held to his chest. He looked up and saw a bit of smoke before Ponta appeared.

"Idiot, getting caught up so easily," the cat walked over and began poking Natsume.

"Tanuma!Natsume! Are you all right?" Taki was still stuck on the ledge above, looking down to try to discern if either was seriously hurt.

Tanuma, pushed Natsume over, and was relieved to see that Natsume had begun choking out the water that he must have swallowed towards the end. He put his hand on Natsume's head before drawing it back, " A fever!"

"The youkai must have been draining his spiritual powers while he was down there, idiot Natsume, how many times has this happened now?"

Tanuma gulped at the look that crossed Ponta's face. It had happened before, he knew Natsume collapsed, but did it really happen that often?

"We should get him in some dry clothes, here we can go to my house," Tanuma heaved Natsume up, and suddenly Ponta disappeared again and Natsume started to float.

"He probably won't want to worry his guardians, so you should call them to say he is staying over," a deep disembodied voice seemed to whisper next to him, and then he saw Natsume start to float away, "Come on!"

They had gotten Natsume some dry clothes and covered him up. His brow burned with fire and he seemed to be murmuring in his sleep.

"It will be another one of those nights will it?" Ponta had taken his cat form again and was sitting next to Natsume. He looked at Tanuma and Taki ( who had been allowed to stay over) and his mouth seemed to quirk, "People with spiritual powers can sometimes sense things that others shouldn't, so I suggest if you have any strange dreams tonight you forget it." The cat curled up and began to snore.

Taki took one last look at the sleeping cat that she_really_wanted to hug, before she gently shut the door behind her. She caught up to Tanuma, "What do you think he meant?"

Tanuma looked contemplative, " I remember, when I was possessed, I could see and feel the experiences that she had gone through, maybe it was something like that?"

"Hmm, " Taki didn't look convinced, "Well, good night Tanuma!"

"Good night Taki."

"Natsume is not only a liar, he's a scaredy cat!"

"OH, Natsume, you afraid of a little water."

" Here let us help you with that!"

A group of boys pushed and shoved another boy towards a large lake.

"I r-really don't, WAH"

He fell straight in and immediately the youkai that had been eyeing him sighting on the bank pulled him down.

"No, no, let go! LET GO!" A voice seemed to shriek out yet there was silence. A rough hand grabbed the back of a shirt and Natsume was back on dry land.

"What were you doing Natsume?" A man with a square face was looking down at the child.

Before Natsume could respond one of the boys from earlier shoved his way through, "We told him not to! We said that if he shouldn't swim that he shouldn't get in the water!"

"All right Natsume, you stay over there all right, no more water, " the man walked away but the small boy could still here him muttering, " just does it for attention."

The leader of the group of boys from before smirked, and turned back to the soaked small child, " Watta you wanna do next Liar?"

Tanuma woke with a gasp and rushed out of his room. He had just past Taki's door when it swung open and she came out with tears in the corners of her eyes. They both moved to the room where Natsume had been sleeping and opened the door. It looked the same as when they left, but they could see that is cat was awake and looking outside. Tanume could hear a small snuffling sound and was shocked to see tears streaming down Natsume's face.

"I did tell you, he won't like it that you saw, " Nyanko-Sensei turned towards them.

"Was that, a dream?" Taki shuffled forward, kneeling next to Natsume's bed.

"Yes, he always seems to get them after a stressful day."

Tanuma slipped to the floor, and caught his breathe. He had one question running through his mind, "How does he do it?"

Nyanko-Sensei looked over at him, "Do what?"

"Deal with it all, I mean, was that normal? The way those brats were treating him?"

"Oh yes," Nyanko-Sensei stretched and resettled, "He always dreams about stuff like that."

"But how is he so, so nice? How come he can still care?"

Nyanko-Sensei looked at them for a while before curling up, " You will have to ask him that," and he tucked his head back into his chest.

Tanuma and Taki sat in silence, trying to understand their friend, for he was there friend, their dear, dear friend.

Natsume opened his eyes, and realized that he wasn't in his house, "Probably blacked out from the youkai yesterday, oh no," he quickly rubbed his eyes and was ashamed to feel the wet tear tracks that went down his face, "Another dream," he hung his head and it was only then that he noticed something strange. Nyanko-Sensei was sprawled next to him, Taki's head was laying on his stomach, and Tanuma was draped awkwardly over his legs. A bit of a flush made its way to Natsume's face, but then he slowly started to smile. He sat up and the other were awoken by the movement, and when they saw he was awake the started to smile to.

His past was his past, but he would rather live in the present.

* * *

><p>Hello, this is my first story for Natsume, so I hope that I have portrayed the characters well.<br>Natsume Yuujinchou doesn't belong to me.  
>I hope you enjoyed it and please review! ~ not necessarily in between<p> 


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